Mechanical hand



Dec. 4, 1928. 1,694,058

. C. C. COON MECHANICAL HAND Filed April 4, 1927 INVENTOR. C. C. Coo/v ATTORNEYS:

Patented Dec. 4, 1928.

PATENTYOF ICE."

CHESTER C.=COON, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA,

MECHANICAL HAND.

Application filed April 4, 1927. SerialNo. 1805818.

The present invention relates to improve-- ments in tools for handling hot wires belonging to an electrical distributing system. The particular object of the present invention is to provide what I term a mechanical hand, that is, a tool by means of which a wire may be conveniently wound upon a second wire stretched between two supporting posts. My tool is mounted at theend of a long handle made of insulating mate-rial and is arranged in such a manner that the free end of a wire Wrapped partly around a second wire suspended horizontally in the air may be gripped therebyand by a twist of the tool twisted around the horizontal wire thru a full turn so that upon release of the tool, the operation may be repeated over and over again. In practice, the tool closely resembles in its action a real hand, and it works the wire very much like a persons hand would. I

Further objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the specification proceeds. i The preferred form of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in,

Figure 1 shows my mechanical hand in a position where it is just ready to grip the end of a. wire,

Figure 2a side View of the tool as viewed from the right hand side, and

Figure 3 a section taken along line 33 of Figure 2.

\Vhile I have shown only the preferred form of the invention, I wish to have it un derstood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached without departing from the spirit of the invention.

My mechanical hand 1 may be described as being cut out from a semi circular plate 2 formed with a long V-shaped recess 3, one wall 4 of which runs parallel to the base of the semi-circle so as to leave a finger 6 separated from the remainder of the body sec tion. The extreme end of this finger is turned over to form a hook 7, and the body section 8 has its tip removed as shown at 9 so that the body section does not extend quite as far as the hook. the recess or slot 3 turns away from the wall 4 at a more decided angle at 12 so as to make the entrance to the recess of considerable width. Two further slots 13 and 14 are formed in the circumferential portion of the body section and there are furthermore pro- The slanting wall 11 of Vided twoperforations 16 and 17 in said body 2 section. The entire semi-circular body section is preferably tapered from thebase toward the peripheral. edg

The finger 6is bent backward slightly out of the plane of the body portion of the me chanical hand as appears clearly from Figure 2, and the inner edges of the slot are preferably serrated as shown at l7while marginal portions 18 on opposite faces are indented or cut away to narrow the width of the confronting edges and to allow the same to secure better grip on the wire.

The mechanical hand terminates at the hot tom in a plate 19 adapted to be'received in the forked end 21 of the handle 22 which latter is preferably made of substantial length so as to allow the mechanical hand to be lifted to within reach. of a high voltage wire suspended in the air at considerable height.

My mechanical hand is used as follows: Assuming the wire 23 to be stretched horizontally between two posts. and the problem is presented of winding the extreme end thereof, after being guided thru a supporting insulator, back on the body section. The free end of the wire is presented in the drawmg as being wound on the horizontal wire 23 in several turns and as projecting beyond the horizontal wire at 24, the last half of the winding being in front of the horizontal wire, and the free end projecting above the horizontal wire to the rear. My tool is raised and guided behind the horizontal wire with the back face 26 of the tool presented toward the operator so that. the handslants away rearwardly. The tool is guided ger to the left as shown in Figure 1, and in such a manner that the hook passes the overhanging wire 24 in front and may. be hooked over the same. The entire tool is now tilted slightly ona vertical axis in a clockwise direction so as to bring the free end 24 of the wire over the slot 3. Thereupon the tool is drawn downwardly and the free end 24 is caused, by the hook 7, to enter the slot 3 where it is caught in the serrations and firmly held during the following movements. After a firm grip has thus been secured of the wire, the mechanical hand is turned on a vertical axis in a clockwise direction thru a full .turn and twisted at the same time so as to with the finexecuted properly may be firmly wrapped upon the horizontal wire 23 in such a mannor that the free end again assumes the position from which the operation was started except that a turn has been added to the wind- The fact that the mechanical hand is arranged at an angle relative to the handle allows the free end to be pushed over and beyond the horizontal wire and when the end position has been. reached, the wire can be immediately released without any difiiculty what-ever by freeing the wire from the hook bya slight upward motion and by thereupon turning the handle at right-angles to the wire and withdrawing the handle, the wire ofi'ering suflicient resistance and being so firmly held by the winding in this particular position that the wire has no tendency to catch and to follow the hand as the latter is withdrawn.

The perforations 16 are used when it is desired to start a wire which projects only thru a very short distance and the taper of the body section allows the entire section to be forced'between two wires for separating the same when this is necessary for securing an initial hold. The slots 13 and 14 are provided, to allow wires to be scraped thereby.

It will be understood that the mechanical hand can be used for unwinding the wire with the same facility.

I claim:

1. A mechanical hand of the character .described, conn rising two spaced fingers forming a slot between the same, one of the fingers being curved into a hook allowing a wire to be drawn into the slot thereby when the hand is pulled downward.

A. mechanical hand of the character described, comprising two spaced fingers forming a V-shapcd slot between the'same, one

of the fingers being curved into a hook allowing a wire to be drawn into the slot thereby when the hand is pulled downward.

3. mechanical hand of the character defingers scribed, comprising two spaced fingers forming a slot between the same, one of the fingers being curved into a hook allowin a wire, to be drawn into the slot thereby w en wire after the latter has been drawn into the slot.

5. A mechanical handas defined in claim 1, in which the second finger is flattened into a leaf allowing further slots to be formed therein. i i

6. In combination, a handle, a mechanical hand extending therefrom at an angle there;

to, the hand comprising two spaced fingers forming a slot between the same, one of the being curved into a hook allowing a wire to the hand is pulled downward.

7 A mechanical hand as defined in claim 1 in which opposite faces of the fingers are indented toward the confronting edges to insure a better hold on the wire during the twisting motion.

8. A mechanical hand of the character debe drawn intothe slot thereby when scribed, comprising a substantially semi-cir- V cular element having therein parallel to the base of the element,

a body section formed by said element, and a finger separated from said body section by said slot, said finger being curved at its end to providea hook.

9. A mechanical hand as defined in claim 8 in which the finger is slightly bent out of the-plane of the body section.

. 10. A mechanical hand as defined in claim 8 in which the body section tapers from the base to the periphery. i

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. CHESTER C. COON.

a long slot formed- 

